Real Madrid is a car that this Wednesday will go to 300 in its fetish competition against a kamikaze driver. The whites, who three weeks ago inflicted on Liverpool the greatest continental humiliation that the majestic Anfield (2-5) has ever known, receive on another night for history a rival thirsty for revenge who will step on the land of comebacks determined to throw themselves into an open grave in order to settle accounts with the king of Europe.
Chamartín’s team separated the ‘reds’ from glory in two of the last five Champions League finals and threatens to leave them in the ditch again in the knockout phase as happened a couple of seasons ago. But Jürgen Klopp’s pilots have not said their last word and they cling to several examples from this century to articulate their ambush.
Eleven months ago, Real Madrid returned from Stamford Bridge with a foot and a half in the semifinals of the old European Cup after dominating Chelsea with a stratospheric performance from Benzema. But the ‘blues’ unloaded all their fury at the Santiago Bernabéu, to the point of placing the Merengue Coliseum on the verge of last rites with goals from Mount, Rüdiger and Werner. However, Rodrygo connected the whites to the artificial respirator with a superb goal with ten minutes to go until regulation time was up and Benzema completed the resuscitation of the patient with another target in extra time that prevented the locals from expiring in a duel that he brought Carlo Ancelotti closer to the grave. “If I don’t die today, I am immortal,” the still exhausted transalpine asserted in full locker room, according to an Apple TV + documentary on the road to the Fourteenth.
It rained on wet, even though Carletto is used to taking shelter under an umbrella when he jars. Four years earlier, with Zinedine Zidane helming the white ship, Real Madrid had surrendered the Juventus Stadium the night Cristiano Ronaldo created his affair with the ‘Vecchia Signora’. The merengue team was already thinking about the semifinals when the ‘bianconeri’ wove a riot on the Paseo de la Castellana that was about to alter the course of history. A brace from Mandzukic before the break and another goal from Matuidi after the locker room put a squad on the ropes that returned to the center of the ring thanks to a penalty from Benatia on Lucas Vázquez that allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to send the fighters to the canvas by Massimiliano Allegri.
Benzema dusts off the rifle
At that time, an Ancelotti was unemployed who, more than a decade earlier, was also able to see in Istanbul how extraordinary income can be consumed in the blink of an eye. Rafa Benítez’s Liverpool fell 3-0 at halftime in a final played at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium that, however, ended up crowning the ‘reds’ in the penalty shootout against Milan led by Reggiolo’s strategist.
Hence, with all those very vivid antecedents in his memory and his gaze set again on the Turkish capital that will host the finish line in the race for the ‘orejona’ on June 10, Carletto issued an admonition to his troops in the previous “You don’t have to do calculations” thinking about the income of the first leg, he argued, but rather raise a stake in which they deploy their “best offensive football” because the opponent has no intention of taking prisoners. “They have to go to the top to get the best from the first minute, no matter what,” said the Italian.
Avoiding the speculative temptation that played such tricks on them in similar situations should be the first epigraph for Real Madrid in a battle plan that also involves containing Liverpool’s high pressure by taking the ball out with hierarchy and putting a duo into orbit that used to wreak havoc on Merseysiders. Vinicius, decisive in putting out the initial fire at Anfield, will recover the partnership at the Bernabéu with a Benzema who, after resting against Espanyol, returns to lead a team that will reach 300 Champions League games this Wednesday.
Bursting up the party for such a marked anniversary is the goal of a Liverpool that continues to be a shot in the air. Able to score a seven against Manchester United ten days ago and fall only a week later with the modest Bournemouth, Klopp’s block is not at all reliable, but it has enough ammunition to carbonize any fort. The battle is served.
-Probable alignments:
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Rüdiger, Nacho, Tchouaméni, Modric, Kroos, Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius.
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Bajcetic, Salah, Gakpo y Darwin Núñez.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
TV: Movistar Champions League.
